Sales Careers

Business-to-Business (b2b)

B2B salespeople are those that sell products (goods and services) to other businesses. Those businesses could 1) be the end-user of the product, 2) use the product to produce another product, or 3) re-sell the product through the channel (e.g., distributor or retailer). B2B salespeople may be inside sales, outside sales, or a combination of the two.

Business-to-Consumer (b2c)

B2C salespeople are those that sell products (goods and services) to consumers. While traditional retail sales positions like those you may have seen at your favorite store are B2C, they are not the type of positions the USCA member schools prepare you for. The typical B2C companies recruiting at USCA member schools are in the insurance and financial services sectors. B2C salespeople in these sectors usually form close relationships with their customers.

Hunters

Hunters are salespeople whose primary responsibility is to find new business. They spend a significant amount of time prospecting, uncovering needs, presenting solutions, and negotiating deals. After the sales has been made, responsibility for the customer is handed off to someone else (e.g., a farmer) in the organization and the salesperson moves on to find the next new customer. Compensation for hunters is usually heavily weighted on performance (i.e., commission).

Farmers

Farmers are salespeople who spend most of their time managing existing customer accounts. They are responsible for ensuring repeat business and growing the amount of business they do with each account. Farmers may also be involved in prospecting, but often take over the accounts generated by hunters. Compensation for farmers will typically be a combination of base salary, commission, and bonus.